Michael Douglas tells Matt Lauer that tumor gone, throat cancer may be beat

(HMG Celebrity News) – ‘Cancer survivor’ Michael Douglas, appears on talk show “Today,” this morning, while the full interview will air later on “Dateline NBC” on January 23.

Douglas who revealed in August that he had stage IV throat cancer, tells Today co-host Matt Lauer  in a transcript of the interview released by NBC, that he feels good, since undergoing several weeks of chemotherapy and radiation treatment, and very relieved.

“The tumor is gone. I think the odds are, with the tumor gone and what I know about this particular type of cancer, that I’ve got it beat,” Douglas told Lauer. “But, you know, I have to check out on a monthly basis now to maintain. I guess there’s not a total euphoria. I’ll probably take a couple of months of getting checked out. But it’s been a wild six-month ride,” Douglas said.

Experts say three years is considered the benchmark for deeming such a patient truly cancer-free.

Douglas, 66, told Lauer he said he had lost a lot of muscle mass and that radiation treatment caused his salivary ducts to stop functioning for a time. The Oscar-winning actor also said he had lost 32 pounds during treatment, but had recently added back 12 pounds and had been “eating like a pig.” He is working out in a gym and even planning for an upcoming film role as famed pianist Liberace, he said.

Douglas says he was always up front about his diagnosis with wife Catherine Zeta-Jones, and his young children — Dylan, 10, and Carys, 7 : “I told them about the cancer, you know, right from the beginning because I was going to be in- and out-patient,” Douglas says. “But I told them it was hopeful. And I also took them down to a couple of radiation treatments. So they came into the room and they saw all the ‘Star Wars’ treatment going around.”